Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1887-02-07
NO"o NJ 06aN
FROM ALL QUARTERS.
FIFTY OR MORE Victims
Of The Railroad Horror In
Vermont.
EIGHTY-ONE ON THE TRAIN
And All But Four Accounted
For.
SCENES ABOUT The WRECK.
A Charnel Pool Of Dead
Humanity.
THE AWFUL CRASH IN VERMONT.

Humanity.
THE A WFUL CRASH IN VERMONT.
Half Hundred or more Numbered
Among the Dead-ThriIlfng Scenes
About the Ku1ns-An Aged Couple
Dte in Each Others Arins-Yoting
Dillon PerIshes Before the Eyes OF
HIS Friend and Others who Are
Powerless to Save-Lectnrer TetVk Sc
bury saved Though His Clothes Are
Burned From His Back--Many Il Bodies
still I'm the Wreck-The Names of the
| Identified Dead and Injured.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT, Feb. g.
The disaster that occurred on the Vermont
Central railroad at White River bridge, in
the town of Endon, about half mile this
side Of East Hartford, yesterday morning at
$50, is the most appalling that has ever
taken place in New England. Four paasen-
ger coaches of the Montreal express, heavily
freighted with pleasure seekers bound for
scenes of carnival and fun, were hurled from
the edge of an open Howe bridge six hun
dred feet in length, and while the train was
running at full speed were precipitated with
| the bridge itself down one of the widest
gorges of the Green Mountain State seventy
| feet on to the icy surface of White river and
there were burned to ashes, cremating near
" forty human beings. killing dozen more
| and seriously if not fatally burning and
manning score of others. The train, made
| up of the express which left New York at
p. M by the Consolidated road and the one
leaving Boston at p. m, consisted of one
passenger coach and one Pullman sleeper, the
st. Adams, from Springfield; one sleeper,
the Chicago, attached here, and one passen-
ger coach and one Pullman sleeper, the Pill
grim, . smoker and baggage, mail and ex-
press car from Boston-seyen cars in all.
The train, which was nearly an hour and a
half late, started from the junction at few
minutes after p. m. under the charge of
Conductor Sturtevant. The cars were well
filed and the train sped along at the rate
of forty miles hour over the four
mile stretch from this station. Suddenly
the train dashed around curve and up q
bridge which crosses the White river seventy
feet above its rushing waters. The river
here passes through deep rocky gorge, the
jagged edges of the precipice on either side,
with its perpendicular sides bordered by
stunted pines, making a wildly romantic
scene. At this point that train suddenly
ended its journey. A broken rail two hun
bred feet this side of the bridge is all that is
left to tell the cause. Whether the train
broke the frosty rail, throwing the
cars from the track, whether the rail
was broken before the train arrived,
or whether some wheel gave way and
snapped the rail is not known, and may never
be known. In an instant there was jar,
humping OF trucks over the railroad ties. The
coupling between the forward sleeper and
the four following cars broke, the engine,
baggage and smoking cars passed on to the
bridge and over it in safety, but the other
four cars bumped along over the ties to the
end of the bridge, knocked out the heavy
timbers which rested on the abutment, and
then toppled over-bridge, cars and human
freight, fully eighty souls all told, falling
with a tremendous crash down the jagged
precipice seventy feet, striking upon the
frozen surface of the river.
Then followed scene which beggars all
power of human description. The splintered
wreck took fire and the dark gorge, from
which the moon was hidden, was soon light
ed up by the glare of burning coaches and
bridge timbers. The detached portion OF
the train was stopped and run back to the
scene
sprang into the deep snow and made their
way as best they could down the steep banks
to assist any in the wreck who were alive.
Here ana there a man or woman had
succeeded in getting extrieated from the
debris by leaving part of his or her clothing
behind, and, in spite of the intense cold and
their half-clothed condition, were bravely
rendering all the assistance in their power t.
rescue their less fortunate companions
Many were pinned beneath huge timbers,
beyond all human aid. The groans of the
half conscious dying, the screams of the
burning, mingled with the hoarse shouts of
the trainmen and few farmers who had ar
rived on the scene. Very little could be
done to aid the injured, and absolutely moth |
ing towards quenching the flames. The ice
on the river was three feet thick and no |
water could be procured. The sickening |
seething mass. The cries of those enduring |
the martyrdom of being burned alive grew
fainter and fainter. The injured who had |
been extricated from the ruins were soon !
conveyed to the neighboring farmhouse of
Thomas Pingree, or slowed away in the |
smoker or baggage cars, and when the relief |
train arrived from this point the wreck had |
been entirely consumed.
At least forty persons were killed outright |
or burned to death. About forty persons |
escaped, most of them being badly MANNED |
OF burned, some of whom will die. The |
scribed by Frank Winsch, a New York |
drummer who was passenger |
on the smoker, when he said, |
s'It looked like hell" The news was
brought to this point by George Parker, |
brakeman. Parker was ON the second car |
and had just gone on TO the forward plat |
form to go to the front car when he felt Sc
we're shock, and he was confident that the |
train had left the iron. He knew he was
somewhere near the bridge, and jumping for
safety rolled over and over down the bank, |
and when he brought up was within few
feet of the river. He saw the passenger cars |
go down, and running to a house near by he |
procured a team and drove to this place and |
alarmed the railway officials and citizens as
quickly as he could.
Below will be found list of those who |
have been killed and injured SO far as their |
names have been ascertained:
Killed identifed-Ed. F. Dillon, Dartmouth; s. s.
D. Maigret Schenegan QHebeci Edward p, SanSS
conductor che had asked for leave Of absence
tend the funeral of his sister which occurs tomor
sad fate9; Miss Nancy Dunbar Of Porter's station,
somervflle. Mass; Mason Mills, Iroqnois, Ont,
ored. porter Of the Pullman Pilgrim, Injured
Mrs. John Graham. Bedford Mass. leg ;,,; and
DeVine, '0 WinoosEi slight bruiss Of the fore
head and slde H J. wtlc4 4 OF Bangor, ro n
fractured; j. c. Hutchins, Montgomery Center, Vt,
injured the back; Howard r. Omltn, OiOuccSeti'
Mass., injured in the back; Henry Mott, Alburgh,
vt. seriously injured in the chest and hip; James
Keley Burke, N Y, arm broken, one foot frozen;
Miss Emily Lowell. Montreal. slightly injured;
Polly Are Chcopee Falls Mass, hip badly injured;
Charles A. Hib6ard, Cambridge, Mass slightly
Injured about the face; Andrew Wheeier. F1tchburg.
bruised and burned about the head and face FACE
the head and face. Conductor s. G. st9rtevant
BosaS seroasy say and perhaps fatally
nett, Scioto, NY, badly injured about the head
and arms; Moses Poulers, Quebec, skull fracture ed
the doctors say he win die; Haran Juneau East
eeiena Que seriously injured in the chest and alb.
domen; B. Cushing Middleboro, Mass elltln leg and
back: Mrs w s. Dryden, Montreal, injuries in the |
back; Henry w. Tewksbury, the noted lecturer of |
west Randolph, vt, leg and arm broken and 9th. |
erwise seriously injured; Miss ? r. Folett of |
% John street, New York. injured in the back and
side: Frank Pratt, secretary Y. A. g A.. Spring
Held Mass right foot inj Aed; Mitchell Laieilide
Of Lawrence, Mass, scalp wound, not serious; Ben
iamin Belanger of Holyoke Mass child. slight in
jury to the side; Joseph E. Jacques of Fitchburg,
injury to the eyes and chin; Margaret Walsh
Of Greenfield. Mass scalp wound confusion Of the
Vt. slight wound on the forehead, ear and back Of
the head: j. s. ShuIl of New Haven, Ct, slight
boa Ipyeil0 of Greenfield.